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What are readers saying about The Scarlet Letter?
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Crystal posted a review at 2010-01-18 02:04:23.
(Language: English)
   
Hester who gets pregnant in her husbands absence is a convicted adulteress but refuses to name the babys father. As punishment she wears a scarlet "A" on her clothes.This father is named to the reader early on in the book. Yet he covers his guilt, lets her carry all the blame and suffering. He appears to love Hester, but he loves his poistion in the community more. I felt he was a wimp. “I will not speak - And my child must seek a heavenly father; she shall never know an earthly one!” I loved this book.
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Yes (3) 
No (0)
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Robert posted a review at 2009-12-20 11:22:36.
(Language: English)
Read this in high school as a lit. assignment, and again after Demi Moore was featured so she could show off her (not so big) American breasts. Funny how it was more fun reading it when I didn't have to. Good book. Hawthorne was definitely an American master. Think he died a pauper in his day. Have to research this. Read it again, ot for the first time. You will enjoy it too now that it is optional.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-07-13 06:38:42.
(Language: English)
In high school I switched English levels, which left me lacking in a lot of classic high school reads. This includes authors from Twain to Salinger and just about every generic book that someone says: "Oh, I read that in high school." This weekend I finally gave in to read Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlett Letter and it was brilliant. His short piece The Custom House precedes the story and it was so descriptive and funny and that's certainly one adjective (funny) that I've never heard paired with Hawthorne. Most everyone seems to be familiar with the plot (especially after the 1995 film) and it all together is a rather simple story line: a married woman whose husband has disappeared has an affair and becomes pregnant. She's forced to wear the letter A in scarlet on her bosom as punishment. From here some fabulous ideas of witchcraft and black magic pepper the story and a great ending.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-09-21 03:40:21.
(Language: English)
The Scarlet Letter makes readers reconsider what they believe to be a true sin, and requires one to question how long a person must live with guilt before he or she has repented enough. Although Nathaniel Hawthorne's writing is a bit verbose in many areas (the book could have been quite a few chapters shorter), The Scarlet Letter overall was very heartfelt. Hawthorne makes clear descriptions of everything that could be considered important (and then some) in the story, and writes with a strong sense of imagery that enables one to visualize Hester, Dimmesdale, and Pearl as they are ostracized - either by themselves or by others - from the rest of the community in which they live. The Scarlet Letter receives three stars out of five from me for its atmosphere, intellectual writing, and the ending thought of the story: are all sins counted the same, no matter the reasons behind them?
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-02-11 10:10:19.
(Language: English)
I should actually give this more stars...but I didn't love/enjoy it. Why? the subject matter brought up anger, frustration, and sadness to read it! Truthfully, it is a masterpiece. Nathaniel Hawthorne reveals so very well the ugly truth about human beings and their audacic self-importance, criticism and judgmet of others, and the ignorance of those who refuse to accept that there is more than one way, one path, one ideology/belief in this world (other than their own). He does also reveal...after much anxiety throughout the pages...the oft times forgotten (and very difficult to acheive) realization that we can go find other people to hang with.
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Ina posted a review at 2011-11-06 12:49:46.
(Language: English)
Read this in HS but did not truly understand until I was older.
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A Reader posted a review at 2012-11-18 08:44:29.
(Language: English)
It's a hard one to grasp. I read this in college.
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Donna posted a review at 2012-01-06 09:51:55.
(Language: English)
A classic
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-08-03 11:22:15.
(Language: English)
Despite the fact that at face value a story of adultery and conspiracy in colonial America sounds exciting, "The Scarlet Letter" fell far short of my initial expectations. Hawthorne's style of writing is bland, even for his own era, and he fails to establish engaging characters the reader can empathize with. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't bring myself to give a damn about anything going on in the story.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-06-13 09:43:16.
(Language: English)
An absolute classic of American literature and psychological dramas. It\'s a bit rough at first, but once you get to appreciate Hawthorne\'s sinister-ly descriptive wiritng style you begin to appreciate the demon lurking the shadows. Really chilling if you read it with the right mindset. An absolute must-have for anyone seriously concerned with the interaction between faith and psychotherapy. Fromm is always an excellent writer, but he uses this piece to concisely lay down his defense of and criticisms of psychoanalytic thinkers as well as theologians and clerics. Fromm indicates that Freud\'s theory is not so averse to faith if both are approached correctly. He also correctly identifies cults (even those of state and personality) as forms of religion that, most people will agree, are unhealthy.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-05-30 05:54:31.
(Language: English)
I felt so liberated and at peace in the end. Why did so many people dislike this book? Do people not like the book because they don't like Hester? You hear about all the broken marriages today and after a while "marriage" just seems like an institution without much substance. Why attack the substantial love they had for each other when marriage is as vulnerable as it is now? And why is was illegitimate child branded "illegitimate". It wasn't her fault she was born out of wedlock. And does her life not have validity and value even so?
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-07-04 06:35:43.
(Language: English)
It should have been a short story.the philosophical underpinnings of the book are interesting.. for a time. but much of the book is drowned out by Hawthorn's own self indulgences (stands out more now than when it was written). It does not give as much insight in to puritanism as it gives insight into the reaction against puritanism that Hawthorne himself felt on finding his family ties to the Salem witch trials. The characters inhabiting the novel would be at home in the comics section of the news paper so exaggerated are their qualities. Would be a better work if it concentrated on the inner struggles of Dimsdale or had a more engaging plot to justify the indulgences in philosophizing that Hawthorne is prone to. Overall he has trouble sustaining the narrative for the duration of the novel.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-08-09 07:06:45.
(Language: English)
I cannot stand this book, and I don't understand why it's still included on so many high school summer reading lists. Both of my parents are english majors. I thought that when I told them how bad it was they'd tell me to just try to muscle my way through it because 'it's a classic' or something like that. That wasn't the case at all. They actually were appalled that 'such a horrible book' was on my required reading list. The story itself is interesting; Hawthorne's writing style is not. Dickens is one thing. At least his long winded interruptions add to the story or tone. Hawthorne is quite another. His 200 word sentences include details only a town chronicler, if they even existed anymore, would need (and probably not even want) to know. They do nothing to advance the plot. This book was an absolutely PAINFUL read for me. I've read Faulkner, Dickens, and Conrad. No book has ever frustrated me more than this one.
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Matt posted a review at 2008-06-10 11:07:06.
(Language: English)
I can't say that every element of this book was bad. In fact, quite a bit of it was actually very good. The story is a classic, chronicling the intertwining lives of the characters and how a single sin affected each of them. The symbolism is wonderful. Unfortunately, I couldn't get past the writing style. The old-fashioned style of writing coupled with unnecessary amounts of description made reading a tedious task throughout the entire novel. I can appreciate the book now that I've read it, but getting through it was terrible. I love the story, hate the book. I'll admit this book has a great story/message, but I absolutely hated it. It dragged on for what seemed like forever, the pace was agonizingly slow, and it was actually painful for me to read. To be honest, while reading this book, I wanted to find the nearest pencil, with it's beautiful, freshly-sharpened graphite point, and repeatedly stab it into my eye socket until I was completely blind. But again, good plot. Horrible read.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-10-30 09:19:10.
(Language: English)
A fascinating and perceptive account of the effects of guilt written in 1850 and set in the early years of the Puritan colony in Massachusetts. During her husband's long abesnce, Hester Prynne has a baby as the result of an adulterous affair and is held up to public scorn and forced to wear a red letter "A" (for "Adulteress") on her breast as a mark of her sin. The identity of her lover remain unknown, though the reader soon realises that it is her minister, the Revd Arthur Dimmesdale. Through a strange twist of circumstances, the identity of Hester's husband also remains unknown to everyone in the community except Herster herself. The story focusses round Hester's heroic silence and patient acceptance of her ignominy and Arthur Dimmesdale's gradual spiritual and psychological disintegration under the combined effects of his guilt and the subtle persecutions of Hester's estranged husband, who suspects his secret. The parallel development of the spiritual and psychological explanations of the story's events and the characters' experiences is extremely clever and surprisingly modern. The two dimensions of the tragedy always remain in balance and reinforce rather than undermine each other, making the novel both a forensic study of morbid psychology and a case history of the damage done to the soul by guilt and hypocrisy. While the characterisations and the historical setting are vivid and convincing, the narrative itself is relatively simple and uncomplicated, sharply focussed as it is on the experiences of the central characters. Thus, while the writing and the insight are the match of anything by Dickens, the novel lacks the breadth and richness of his works. The character of Hester's daughter Pearl is the least modern, most "19th century" aspect of the story and the contemporary reader may wince slightly as I did at her arch perspicacity and mercurial would-be cuteness. These minor quibbles are what induced me to award four stars rather than five, but this is still a great novel. It ought to be on the essential reading list in every seminary and theologicial college in the English-speaking world.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-04-24 02:33:02.
(Language: English)
This book pissed me off to no end--it is a book without heroes or qualities in people that one can look up to. Particularly, Dimsdale the cowardly preacher who could have come forward at any time and express that he had gotten the ostracized adultress pregnant, but didn't. Hester Prynn, the lady who wore the scarlet letter A on her dress, showed a subservience and tolerance of a society that even the most prude of women should shudder at. They didn't deserve her, but she was just entirely accepting of every silly attitude and act they put her through. It is not a crime to think, and it is not a crime to speak up and be counted for, and not let ignorance, superstition and useless tradition go on without at least attempting to stop it! There are no martyrs...only the people who did and who did not.
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A Reader posted a review at 2011-06-12 05:47:07.
(Language: English)
An example of unrequited love, this book is more than a classic. It is edgy and strong, yet soft in delivery. Beyond it's time, this story takes you to the forbidden part of all of us. It shows us that no matter what, we stand for what we believe in...even when it hurts. In the end, there is always another story that is left us wanting more. This is a sexy novel that shakes your inner core. If you are a beginning classics reader, put this on your list of "must reads". You will be changed within.
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Emily posted a review at 2007-10-28 09:56:56.
(Language: English)
I think this is one of my favorites from high school English or whenever I read the thing, and I agree that it is a classic full of excellent imagery, strong characters, and of course all that symbolism we all love to hate. But outside the annoying intellectual stuff, this is just a great story that fills that spot craving good drama. Call it a soap-opera problem--only this keeps the craziness in check and lets the characters, all of them, guide their own stories. The stories revolves around a few central people in a small Puritan town. And you know those Puritans. Hester is the town outcast, socially punished for having an affair whilst she was married. Along side her are her daughter, her husband, and the man she really loved all along. These people are real, as much as you like or despise them. The story is real, and even though we haven't all been accused by a town of Puritans for adultry we can all testify to that same judgement and goodness that remains in this world.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-10-07 02:55:47.
(Language: Italian)
la lettura di questo libro offre spunti interessanti sulla religione (qualunque si professi)e sul modo di intendere luoghi comuni e comune senso del pudore....la protagonista vive di un amore clandestino, ne sopporta le conseguenze ed è marchiata a vita in una piccola e gretta comunità di donne mai state tali e di uomini che l'avrebbero voluta con tutte le loro forze. E' un monito all'ignoranza della fede e alla cieca e bieca grettezza mentale dei benpensanti di ogni tempo.Non fidatevi solo del film che ne riporta i punti salienti, leggete il libro che rimane nelle pieghe della coscienza.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-12-04 04:56:40.
(Language: English)
-- I loved teaching this book! This book is wonderful and has a very romantic/mysterious plot that because it is written in old English makes the story five times better! Hawthorne wrote a book about two people who sinned by committing adultery, and the Puritans weren't happy. As much as people say this book is outdated, it really isn't. I mean, public scandals are a part of our culture just as much as they were then. Hester Prynne is that public scandal, the story you hear on the news or other media outlets. Public infamy, as well as changing public perception, seems to never go out of style.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-07-20 06:19:52.
(Language: English)
In Puritan Boston during the late 1800's, adultery was a serious sin. Hester Prynne, whose husband is not with her in Boston, becomes pregnant. She will not name her lover, so she is the one the community punishes. She is forced to wear the letter "A" on her clothing to show that she is an adulteress. We eventually find out that Reverend Dimmesdale is Hesters lover. Hester raises Pearl on her own as the years pass. Though Hester still wears her scarlet letter, the town comes to accept her as a member of the community. Reverend Dimmesdale, on the other hand, has never openly admitted his guilt and, consequently, has not been forgiven. He becomes more and more ill and unhappy. Roger Chillingworth, Hester's husband, becomes a part of Dimmesdale's household in order to take revenge on him. In the mood for a tragedy? Check out this classic novel.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-06-02 08:07:10.
(Language: English)
I didn't care for this book because there was so much discription that I felt was not really needed like spending a page and a half on a rose that doesn't even pop up in the story ever agian. Don't get me wrong the story of a women turning a sin into helping out everyone so that the other town's people think the A stands for Able is a great moral. I just think that Hawthorne's descriptions took away from the main plot. I had to read the book for school, so if someone read it for fun, you might want to make up your own mind. Anyways, you probably should read it at some point in your life because it is a classic novel. Best of luck.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-06-08 08:30:42.
(Language: English)
I really believe that I would have enjoyed this novel more if I hadn't already known it's plot point by point before hand-- my first read was more like a second read. That said, this novel is a classic, and wonderfully explores the nature of sin and evil. Hawthorne is fantastic in his quotability. Despite everything great, he begins to get tiring-- he has a fantasticly unique way of structuring his sentences with thoughtful kinds of aisdes, but they're all over the place and can bog you down at first, and after awhile (somewhere in the middle you ajust). To boot, I've never read the words "Ignominy" and "Epoch" more times in my life! I don't know what the state of the thesurous was in the mid-19th century, but I think Hawthorne could have benefitted just a tad. The latinite vocabulary can be rough on a modern reader as well. The characters, and the way they're portrayed in association with their sin is thoughtful, wonderful, and truthful. The characters are strong, the imagery is rich, the language can be mesmorizing, and the themes are still pertenant. A book everyone should read at least once. It's appropriate, facinating, and infuriating that the reader never comes to know how Hester and her lover came to make love in the first place. It can be no other way, and only helps to support the novel, but makes you want to scream.
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eva posted a review at 2011-05-07 07:24:35.
(Language: English)
I liked this book. Being scorned and an outsider and essentially misunderstood can make for a hard life. Trying to still live with your head held high would be difficult with that scarlet letter sewed to your chest. Society has been doing this for ages, and even though we don't brand people today, there are still social stigmas that people are saddled with and must learn how to deal with close minded people.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-07-31 02:38:21.
(Language: English)
This Norton Critical Edition of Nathaniel Hawthorne's most widely read novel appears during the bicentennial anniversary year of his birth. The text of The Scarlet Letter is based on the 1850 third edition, the first set in stereotype plates and the basis of subsequent printings in Hawthorne's lifetime. An invaluable selection of contextual material includes five Hawthorne stories that are closely related to The Scarlet Letter, along with relevant letters and notebook entries. A substantial excerpt from Hawthorne's campaign biography of Franklin Pierce offers a revealing glimpse at Hawthorne's political thought, especially regarding slavery and abolition. "Criticism" provides a comprehensive overview of early and modern commentary on The Scarlet Letter and the stories in this edition, including nineteenth-century reviews of the novel and critical essays by Robert S. Levine, Nina Baym, Larry J. Reynolds, and Jean Fagan Yellin. A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are also included.
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